Inspired by the recent good weather and lots of people playing golf, I would like to discuss goal setting in this blog and help you set goals that you can achieve this season.
Often when I ask a client what are their goals or targets for the season the answer I get is “I want to get more consistent”. This would be really difficult to achieve because there is nothing to measure consistency against. I mean, what is consistency? How do we gauge what is and what isn’t consistent? What club are you talking about getting consistent with? Do you see where I am coming from? Instead something like ‘I would like to become more consistent with my driver by hitting 40% of the fairways this season’ would be a better and more suitable goal.
I use the SMART model for setting my goals and recommend that you do too. What is SMART?
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time based
So let’s use this model against the goal that I mentioned above:
“I would like to become more consistent with my driver by hitting 40% of the fairways this season”
Is it specific? Yes a certain club has been chosen to improve.
Is it measurable? Yes a percentage is used to measure against.
Is it achievable? In the time frame of the season, 6 months of play and practise, I would say yes.
Is it realistic? For most golfers scoring 90-100 shots per round of 18 holes and with my help…. Of course it is!
Is it time based? Yes, the duration of the playing season is referred to.
So that’s an example, have a think about some goals for yourself now.
What are my goals this season? I want to improve my short game, increasing my up and down percentage from 60% to 65% in 6 months. (Up and down is the term used to chip and one putt the ball into the hole when around the green).
Now I used the SMART model to assess it:
Is it specific? Yes a selected an area of my game to improve.
Is it measurable? Yes a percentage is used to measure against. I also use Shot Scope to measure my play.
Is it achievable? In the time frame of the season, 6 months of play and practise, I would say yes.
Is it realistic? For my standard and practice schedule, yes a 5% improvement is realistic.
Is it time based? Yes, I mentioned that I want to improve in 6 months.
So that concludes this blog, I hope you found it useful and that it will help you set some realistic scoring or skill goals for this season.
Don’t forget I am always hand to help and advise, just reach out and ask. If you are not local did you know I also offer online lessons via Whatsapp, the process is explained here – Online lessons with Steve Furlonger
If you enjoy YouTube, why not visit my channel and check out more of my instructional videos, subscribe for your chance to when a Shot Scope V1 – Steve Furlonger Golf Performance.
